


Baby, Let's Plan On Forever

by agentsimmons



Series: The Many Adventures of Bear Banner-Stark [5]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Adorable Bruce Banner, Darcy Lewis's iPod, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Marvel Cameos, Science Boyfriends, Tony Being Tony, Wedding Planning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-09
Updated: 2015-10-09
Packaged: 2018-04-25 13:16:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4961992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agentsimmons/pseuds/agentsimmons
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How do you plan on forever? If you're Bruce and Tony, you put it off until you're harassed into it. Then when you do, it's probably a little bit manic and unorthodox with plenty of pointers from the other Avengers. With fluff, kisses, and flirting on the side.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Baby, Let's Plan On Forever

**Author's Note:**

> Snippets of the pre-wedding months. Some scenes crackier than others tbh.

At some point it started to get a little out of control.

Sure, it started out innocently enough. Director Fury made it clear that the sooner they got married the better, though being Fury he wouldn't say why. Pepper was quick to let Tony know that the Board needed time to adjust to the official wedding announcement, whenever it should come, but not enough time for them to stew in it. Natasha made it abundantly clear that she would not be in the wedding party. Steve had a lot of questions about modern weddings. _A lot_. Then, a bunch of wedding magazines started popping up all over the tower. Tony half expected one to be buried in the folds of the couch in their apartment.

Then there _was_ one buried in the folds of the couch in their apartment. Tony had been napping on the couch with Bear resting on top of him. When Bear had jumped down suddenly, the engineer woke with a start and his elbow felt something. It was at that moment that Tony was pretty certain things were starting to get out of control.

"You're reading that?" Bruce asked in bemusement when he came in from the lab a little later.

Tony was indeed sat on the couch with the magazine open and studying its contents. "At least I'm not hiding them in the couch," Tony replied back, but kept his tone neutral.

He looked over the top of the magazine toward Bruce with one eyebrow raised to see Bruce mirroring his expression. "Why would I hide it in the couch? I think that's only something you do when you want to get married, but you don't want the other person to know that's what you want. We're already engaged, Tony."

Tony closed the magazine and set it on his lap. "Then who…?"

" _Clint_ ," they said knowingly at the same time.

"He was up here yesterday," Bruce elaborated with a shake of his head as he moved into the kitchen, Bear immediately trailing him in hopeful anticipation as he did.

Tony sighed. "I'm starting to think everyone wants us to get married more than we do."

Bruce snorted from the kitchen. "Imagine their reactions if we just eloped," Bruce responded, pitching his voice a little louder.

Tony chuckled, got up and moved to stand at the island. "They would probably remove us from the team or something. But uh… Have you thought about it? Just eloping, I mean. Or, well, any of the details?"

"Don't tell me they're starting to get to you too?" Bruce asked with a soft laugh as he pulled out a container of fruit salad from the refrigerator. He looked at Tony curiously.

"Maybe a little," Tony admitted. "I guess I just never thought about it past the 'woohoo I'm the luckiest guy in the world, he said yes' stage."

Bruce smiled a bit crookedly at that. "Me either," he said before pecking Tony on the lips. He then held up the container in an offering gesture and Tony nodded.

"So I guess maybe we should talk about it?" Tony ventured tentatively.

"Guess so," Bruce replied as he pulled down two bowls.

Tony rubbed at the back of his neck and looked down at the island counter. "Do you think maybe we should elope? I mean, just do something private?"

Bruce gave a considering look as he divvied out some of the fruit salad. "It… It certainly has its merits probably." He snapped the lid back on the container and moved it back to the refrigerator. "We wouldn't have to worry about press or the details of planning a wedding. It would be on our terms and we could do it at any time. Well, I guess within reason. There's still the legal work like getting a license and—"

"And making sure the SI details are taken care of." Bruce looked at him in slight confusion. "Well, I'm going to change my will for one where the company is concerned. And I'd like to make you joint chief shareholder of the company."

"Tony, are you… You don't have to," Bruce stammered, taken back.

Tony came around into the kitchen and cupped Bruce's face. "I’m marrying you. Part of that commitment is my wanting to share with you all of my assets legally. Not just the bank account and properties. I want you to be my partner in everything." He smiled before letting his hand fall and grabbing his bowl of fruit salad. "And," he said as he turned and made his way back toward the couch, "should anything happen, I want my legacy entrusted to you. Pepper gets to stay on as CEO of course, but for all intents and purposes I would want you to be the one filling my shoes. But we can talk about that later if you want," Tony offered as he sat down.

Bruce was standing at the edge of the kitchen looking into his bowl of fruit salad. He sighed and gave a nod. "Yes, later. It's just a lot to take in," he said, finally coming over to join Tony on the couch. "I guess it's one thing to be dating a guy who owns half the world and another completely to be married to him," he added with humor.

"There's, uh, also the name thing," Tony said hesitantly and Bruce gave him a strange look as he took a bite of his fruit salad. "Not that Banner-Stark or Stark-Banner doesn't sound amazing and I'm all for adding your name to the company if you'd like, but…"

Bruce made a choking sound and pounded his chest a little as he swallowed hard. Tony look at him in concern for half a second before hurrying to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water and bringing it back to him.

"Thank you," Bruce said after he'd taken a drink and cleared his throat. "I just wasn't expecting that. I didn't even think about the name thing, honestly. Uh, if you're going to suggest we just keep our… maiden names? Bachelor names?" He asked with a confused smirk and raised eyebrow at the concept and Tony smirked as well. "Well, whatever the term is, I'm more than okay with that. It makes sense for us professionally. We're both already published and known by our last names so we don't need to change them to prove we're married. A lot of people don't these days."

"Okay, good. Glad you agree. I didn't want you to think 'hey what's the use of getting married?' or anything along those lines," Tony said sounding as relieved as he implied. "So… elopement or actual wedding? We should probably figure that out for certain before moving forward."

"Elopement is the safest route, but… Maybe a very small wedding wouldn't be awful just for the memories?" Bruce gave a shrug even as he posed the uncertain suggestion. "What do you think?"

"Sounds good. You, me, Bear, a thousand guests at the Taj Mahal?" Tony asked with a wide grin.

"Precisely," Bruce replied with a snort.

"I'm okay with a small wedding. I agree the memories would be nice. And the team won't begrudge us for it. Of course, there's the press issue we'll have to deal with," Tony pointed out.

Bruce sighed. "I know. But I've been with you this long. I think I can handle it. Won't like it, but I'll handle it."

"Alright, then I guess that just leaves the finer details."

"Like picking a date, telling the team, guest list, catering, planning a honeymoon if you're interested—"

"Oh, I'm interested," Tony interrupted quickly and looked Bruce over. "You know, you still owe me a date to Pleasure Island," Tony said with a smirk.

"Huh." Bruce tilted his head. "That would actually work pretty well. I'm okay with that."

"Score. One thing down only…" Tony's sentence trailed and he winced.

"Yeah." Bruce huffed out a laugh. "Only."

"I say we come back to that," Tony said as he grabbed a piece of watermelon between his fingers. "Right now though, I'm kinda in the mood to see if I can't finally kiss you down a few IQ points." He said it as if it was a personal challenge.

Bruce gave him a wry look. "It's the fruit isn't it?"

* * *

"I kind of like the slate gray," Bruce said casually as he and Tony sat on the loveseat on the common floor looking through a groom magazine together. "I think it would definitely look good with your blue. Not sure about purple though."

Tony hummed thoughtfully. Then he playfully turned the magazine toward Bear who was chewing on a toy at their feet. "What do you think, Bear?" The dog looked up at his name. "Think we should go with slate gray?" Bear just stared at them for a long moment before returning to chewing his toy. "Maybe we should get Thor to translate for us," Tony mused as he turned the magazine back around.

"Please don't," Bruce said with a shake of his head.

"Alright, alright," Tony conceded and turned the page just as the elevator pinged open and the other Avengers came in for the team dinner, which was to be delivered Thai and pizza both.

Bruce and Tony gave each other a conspiratorial smirk as they continued looking through the magazine as if they hadn't registered the others' arrival. Bear however perked up and hurried over toward the team.

Tony turned to the next page and then pointed enthusiastically when something caught his eye. "Hey look. That's close to the slate gray right?" Bruce hummed and scooted closer. "Hot damn with purple that looks sexy as fuck." He looked over at Bruce approvingly. "So it stands to reason you'll look sexier than sexy as fuck if we go with that option," he said with a smile.

"Oh god, well maybe we shouldn't put that kind of temptation in front of you," Bruce teased, scrunching his nose a little as he did. "I'd like to make it through my wedding fully clothed if it's all the same to you."

"But, Brucey, ogling you the whole day and forcing myself to restrain would be the best kind of torture," Tony said as innocently as possible. Natasha walked by and snatched the magazine out of Tony's hand, whacking him slightly in the shoulder with it as she did. "Hey!"

"This is your fault, Clint," she said as she flopped down into the armchair and looked long and hard at the magazine page in question. She then glanced over at Bruce and gave him a calculating look before giving a small hum. Bruce and Tony shared an uncomfortable glance between them.

"Somebody had to do something proactive," Clint said in defense as he sat down on the floor and played with Bear. "Or these two would be forever fiancés and that's just sad."

"Still, stuffing a magazine in our couch?" Bruce looked at the archer with amused skepticism.

Clint shrugged. "Clearly it worked if you two are finally picking out colors. Which I'm hoping means you two idiots aren't just going to elope."

Tony and Bruce shared a smile, linking their hands between them. "I guess we should just cut to the chase. We're finally ready to tell you our plans. Well, what we've figured out so far anyway," Tony clarified. "Unofficially, we're getting married on the ninth of October in Malibu."

"Unofficially?" Steve looked at them in confusion and then around at the others.

"Uh, yeah," Bruce nodded, "Fury's suggestion should any bad guys get the idea they'd like to crash the party. Pepper thought it made sense for paparazzi reasons as well. So that's the information that will be public and Fury's going to send some SHIELD agents to the location just in case."

"Okay," Steve said, still a little uncertain sounding. "And officially?"

"Barring impending doom, that would be the tenth of October and it's just going to be a very small ceremony on the grounds at the Mansion," Tony answered.

"Small?" Natasha arched an eyebrow in their direction.

"Yes, small," Tony said. "It will literally be a wedding party consisting of two, Rhodey and Bruce's cousin Jen. And for guests, there's obviously you guys, Pepper, Coulson, and select other heroes and SHIELD agents just in case the plan to keep out the bad guys doesn't go the way we'd like."

"May I invite Jane and Darcy?" Thor asked tentatively.

Bruce gave a small shrug. "I don't see why not."

"So what about the cake, catering, photography and all that fun stuff?" Clint asked next. "You are doing a reception, right?"

"Yeah, we're doing a reception," Tony said with a roll of his eyes. "If we weren't going to do a reception we could just as well elope. But we haven't figured out those details just yet."

"You could get that web-slinging punk to do photography," Clint suggested.

"Really now," Bruce countered. "Peter's not a bad kid." Then he pursed his lips in a thoughtful manner. "It might not be a bad idea though," he said to Tony.

"Sure. We could ask him. Maybe give it a test run with the engagement photos for the press spread." Tony hitched a shoulder and Bruce gave a slightly wilted look.

"I'm not looking forward to the press spread." He shook his head.

Tony squeezed his hand. "I know, babe, but between keeping the Board happy by proving this can make for good press and making our decoy wedding plan work, we have to play a little ball."

"I know. And at least we're not making the announcement via press conference," Bruce said with a small hint of relief in his voice.

"You're not?" Natasha asked in slight confusion.

"Nope," Tony answered. "We're going to do GMA for the breaking announcement and then a round of a few other morning shows. The atmosphere is more relaxed that way. And it keeps the people on our side which I'm sure we all can agree is good for our overall cause. Shows we're just people like everyone else."

They all looked around at one another in agreement on that point.

 _The food has arrived downstairs_ , JARVIS interrupted the conversation.

Thor and Steve left to retrieve it.

"So October huh?" Clint asked after a moment of awkward silence. He gave Tony a studious glance. "Didn't you get the notion in your head to adopt this little rascal around that time last year?" Clint scrubbed Bear's ears as he spoke.

Bruce looked over at Tony questioningly. "He's right. I distinctly remember waking up in a field with puppies," he said with a confused laugh.

"How delightful," Natasha deadpanned with a slight quirk of her lips as she looked through another one of the magazines that had been on the coffee table.

Tony held up his hands. "It's a coincidence, honestly. But it's kind of a neat coincidence. Since…" He looked at Bruce. "That's around the time I started seriously thinking about things I'd never thought of before. Marriage, dogs, big yards…" He leaned his head against Bruce's and added gently, "Even kids." Bruce gave a small smile. "That's when I started to realize I just might want the whole nine yards."

Clint snorted a little insensitively. "So essentially you realized you were a big sap after all." Natasha shot him a sharp look and his face fell.

Tony frowned, but Bruce's small smile widened. "Hey, don't listen to him. Sap is just a misnomer for perfect." Tony's expression quickly turned upward in appreciation and Bruce cupped his face and brought their lips together.

Natasha rolled her eyes and returned to her magazine while Clint smirked and shook his head before returning to playing tug of war with Bear. The elevator pinged open a moment later and the men were still lip locked.

"We were only gone for five minutes," Steve said incredulously, eyes immediately zeroing in on the geniuses. Then he let out a sigh as he carried the food to the table. "I'd say save it for the honeymoon, but you two wouldn't last two and a half days let alone two and a half months."

* * *

"You heard it first here right before the break, folks," Robin said enthusiastically. "Playboy Tony Stark is officially reformed for good. We know that like us some of you were wondering if there were wedding bells in the future for one of our favorite couples and now it seems there are. That's right, Tony Stark and Dr. Bruce Banner are officially engaged to be married later this year."

"Tell us, who proposed and what was that like?" Lara asked.

"I proposed," Tony said.

"He did," Bruce agreed. "Which is good because that's definitely more his thing," he said with a smile. "He's definitely the creative one." Bruce looked at Tony. "Do you want to tell the story or—?"

"No, no, you're doing good," Tony encouraged.

"Uh, okay," Bruce started sheepishly. "Well, he… Okay, first he more or less declared his love for me in front of a group of our friends and… Oh god, it was a little embarrassing to be honest," Bruce said with a nervous chuckle that the audience shared in sympathetically.

Tony pouted. "I was under the impression it was romantic, sweet, charming—"

"Okay, I think they get it," Bruce said with a nod and slightly nervous glance at his fiancé before he let out a small huff of a laugh. "No, no, it was. It was all of those things. And he actually used our dog to propose."

The entire panel went 'aww' at the same time as did the audience. "Ah! So that's why you have your dog in some of your engagement photos?"

Several photos came onto the screen behind them of Tony and Bruce and a few with Bear. The audience seemed especially taken with one of Bear lying on a pillow with his head curled up against the arc reactor Tony had designed.

"It is," Tony answered. "That and he might be more photogenic than his father," he said with a wide smile aimed directly at the camera.

"But Tony is still a close second," Bruce quipped, voice less shaky than it had been at the start. The audience laughed.

"I'm loving the set of photos with you two in the lab," George added to the conversation. "Especially the one you chose for your main press photo."

One photo came up onto the screen. Bruce was in his lab coat and Tony in one of his tank tops and jeans. The entire photo was monochromatic save a double sided computer screen between them glowing blue. Their heads were bowed with eyes closed and content smiles. Their left hands were entwined beneath the screen, but their right hands were pressed against one another's on either side of the screen.

"We all know you're both brilliant scientists, but it definitely feels like there's a story there."

Tony and Bruce shared a loving glance. Then Bruce nodded and said, "There is."

* * *

Bruce and Tony sat at the table in the communal dining area. There were several envelopes and invitations spread out between them.

"I'm just saying, it's not like we have to invite the guy," Tony said in protest as he carefully placed another invitation into an envelope and sealed it.

Bruce shook his head with an amused smile as he finished scrawling an addressee onto an envelope and checked off a list. He then passed the envelope over to Tony to add an invitation and seal it.

"Tony, we can't invite Sue and then not invite her husband. How would you feel if it was the other way around and Reed invited me but not you?" Bruce took a moment to look up from his work to fix Tony with a humored gaze.

"That's a trick question," Tony answered. "Because there are several ways I could and probably would respond to that very unlikely scenario." Bruce raised an eyebrow at him. "And I don't mean unlikely as in unlikely that you would be invited and not me."

"Of course not," Bruce said with a small snort before moving to the next addressee.

"Okay so sure I'd be offended on principle. I mean, who doesn't invite Tony Stark? It's not even a comparable situation." Bruce huffed out another amused laugh. "But then once the shock wore off I'd probably be relieved at not being obligated to attend. Then, of course, I'd probably feel it necessary to crash the wedding on principle. And there's also the question of whether or not you would attend without me. That's where the true wound could be inflicted."

Bruce rolled his eyes fondly as he checked off another guest on the list. "I think whether I would go would depend on a lot of things," he responded vaguely. "But I wouldn't appreciate being placed in that situation in the first place so I'm sure as hell not going to put Sue there. He's invited, Tony. End of discussion."

"We could not invite either of them," Tony suggested in what was clearly a last ditch effort.

"Tony, need I remind you who helped us with the Hulk pants situation," Bruce offered without looking up from his new envelope. "I'd still be waking up naked in strange places if not for Reed's help. They're both invited. Besides, it would be weird not to invite a superhero couple to a superhero wedding."

Tony groaned. "I would have figured it out eventually, you know," he said, completely ignoring the latter part of Bruce's point. "I was just as determined as you were to keep prying, unworthy eyes from your glorious body."

Bruce looked up to see the impish expression on Tony's face. "Again, I'm not sure why it took us as long as it did to figure it out," he said with a laugh before returning to his writing. "And you know it's not that I don't find your brain infinitely more multifaceted and attractive than Reed's—"

Tony moaned salaciously. "That's downright filthy talk, Dr. Banner. Say it again."

Bruce's hand stilled. He closed his eyes and his shoulders shook with a quiet laugh before he let out a deep breath and looked at Tony dubiously. "But, Tony, the first pants you made spontaneously combusted _while I was wearing them_."

"Shouldn't have lied," Tony quipped.

Bruce ignored him. "The second pair didn't even hold up to the transformation," he said even more seriously.

"On the bright side, even Doom's henchmen didn't see that coming," Tony pointed out casually as he stuffed another envelope and sealed it before moving on to the next one that Bruce had finished. "They've never surrendered faster. I mean, honestly, if it wasn't for the shitstorm that followed from Fury and the team and the FCC and all the parent groups crying for a class-action lawsuit to pay for therapy for their children, I would have suggested we just lead with naked Hulk from there on out." Tony glanced up at Bruce to see him wearing a thin smile and intent look. "What?"

Bruce gave a small sigh. "I just love you is all," he said conversationally and Tony responded with a slightly crooked smile of his own. "You're probably the only man who could honestly suggest using naked Hulk as a secret weapon without so much as batting an eye. You're absolutely crazy sometimes and I kind of can't believe my good luck."

* * *

Tony groaned as they stood in the lobby of the Baxter building. Bruce had insisted on personally delivering the invitations to the other superheroes on the guest list. Everyone had agreed that it would be a good idea so that none of them could be intercepted by unwanted parties. Tony had also agreed it made sense, but that agreement was now seemingly lost on their current stop on the list.

"Behave, Tony," Bruce nudged him. "Don't make me use Bear's old clicker," he teased.

Tony looked down to see Bear, who was harnessed out of respect to the people they were visiting just in case, looking up at him with his head cocked as if he understood that joke and was teasing the engineer about it as well. "I'll behave so long as Richards doesn't— Hello, Reed," he course corrected with a tight smile as Reed came into the lobby along with the rest of the Fantastic Four.

"Hey cool. They brought the dog with them!" Johnny said with an enthusiastic slap of Ben's arm as he zeroed in on Bear. "Can I?" He asked. Tony shrugged and unhooked the leash and Johnny called him over. Bear wasn't shy so he went over and was quickly showered with affection from Johnny, Sue and Ben.

"Aww, you've gotten so big since the party, little guy," Sue said sweetly.

Reed fixed Tony and Bruce with a look before sighing. "They're going to be impossible after this."

"Sorry," Bruce offered with an apologetic smile.

Tony on the other hand frowned. "I'm not apologizing. He goes where we go."

"Within reason," Bruce clarified.

"I'm a little surprised you turned into such a dog person, Tony," Reed responded to that. "You never seemed like the type. Then again, you've just been full of lots of surprises the past handful of years."

Bruce's eyes widened and he turned to see the twitch of Tony's lips. Before he could intervene and before Tony could respond with an off color remark, Sue was at Reed's side as if sensing the tension. "You're dog is wonderful," she said with a placating smile. "You must be wonderful owners. So what brings you by?"

"Just out delivering invitations to the wedding," Bruce said with a smile as he handed her the invitation addressed to the Reeds.

"You two are invited too," Tony said over Reed's shoulder to Johnny and Ben.

"Weddings aren't really my thing," Ben said. "Congratulations of course, but somebody should probably stick around and keep an eye on things here."

"We understand," Bruce responded. "But if you change your mind, you're still welcome to come."

"I know I'll be there. I love weddings," Johnny said enthusiastically.

"And by that you mean you love weddings where there's a lot of emotional women to take advantage of, am I right?" Tony asked with a raised eyebrow and tilt of his head.

Sue laughed as she opened the envelope. "Yeah, that sounds about right."

"Why do I get the distinct impression that you crashed a few weddings just for that very purpose?" Bruce asked with raised eyebrows.

"Who? Me?" Tony looked at him in mock innocence. "I have no idea what you're talking about. It was just an honest guess."

"One of these days I might believe you," Bruce teased.

"Thank god we're not this insufferable," Reed said to Sue.

"Oh relax, Reed. They're fine. Hey, but this invitation says the tenth," Sue then said looking at the two geniuses.

"Yeah, about that," Tony started. "The press date is a decoy. That's the real one."

"Huh. Not an entirely bad idea," Reed said in consideration. "Was it yours?"

Tony clenched his jaw and Bruce immediately rubbed a soothing hand up Tony's back until it rested on his shoulder. Tony relaxed a little in response. "It was Director Fury's actually," he answered.

There was a moment of silence and then Reed's lips quirked up. "Well, the guy has to have a good idea every now and then I guess."

As if nothing had happened, Tony laughed in enthusiastic agreement.

* * *

"This feels oddly like a bridal shower," Bruce whispered as he and Tony stood in the communal kitchen taking a retreat from where Pepper, Jennifer, Jane, Darcy, Thor and Clint were helping them with last minute selections – everything from the final menu to decorations to the reception. They had menus and magazines and checklists sprawled in front of them. Jennifer was also specifically making a list of the RSVPs for a head count.

"Especially with Thor and Feather Head," Tony agreed and Bruce snorted.

"What are you two whispering about?" Darcy called to them with an impish gleam in her eyes. "Because if it's about the honeymoon, speak up so the rest of us can hear," she teased.

Bruce made a strangled noise in the back of his throat and looked at Tony with wide eyes that practically begged him to just throw her out. She had already prodded them for details about their sex life three times since arriving. "What? I'm just curious? I've been hanging out with Jane so let's call it a new sense of scientific inquiry. I mean, who wouldn't want to know the details about two superheroes in bed together?" She had asked. She also kept pestering them to listen to all of the wedding appropriate songs she had filled her iPod with before tagging along with Jane. "It's 6th Gen and everything," she had boasted.

Tony shook his head, somewhere between amused and exasperated. "She's not going to stop until she sees a little action," he whispered to Bruce knowingly.

"What the hell do you mean a little action?" Bruce mumbled, giving him a sharp look of disbelief.

Tony shrugged. "I don't know. She probably just wants to see a little tongue. Maybe a little groping to get herself off on later. It's just one of those things."

"Just one of those things?" Bruce asked with a raised eyebrow. "Seriously?"

"Seriously, watch."

"Watch what?" Bruce asked, eyes going wide in slight horror.

"Hey, Darcy," Tony called over to her and she shot her head up in question from where she was putting frown-y faces and smiley faces next to food choices. "You just missed a delectable ass squeeze." Bruce ducked his head and very determinedly looked at a spot on the floor.

"Oh come on!" Darcy protested loudly. "At least tell me who squeezed whose ass."

"Darcy, that's enough," Jane chastised and gave Bruce an apologetic smile. "I'm so sorry. I wish I could say she's not always like this, but…" she looked at Darcy and then back again, "…yeah, she's always like this. You should have been there when she found out Thor is also a god of fertility," she said with a slight blush and grimace.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and the room went still as they slowly looked at Thor. "It is true," he said soberly.

"And here I thought this couldn't get any more awkward," Tony said with a slight laugh in Bruce's ears before they made their way back over.

Bruce stopped just short of the table when he noticed Darcy practically drooling. His eyes moved upward a little when he realized Tony was still behind him. "He's checking me out isn't he?"

"Oh yeah," Darcy drawled appreciatively with a smirk and small eyebrow waggle while Jane dropped her head into her hand in embarrassment. Meanwhile Thor and Clint snickered in amusement. Pepper and Jennifer just gave each other an amused look that clearly said they were surrounded by middle-schoolers.

"Is she yours?" Bruce asked dubiously, pointing at Darcy as he twisted slightly to look at Tony. "Because I'm starting to notice some family resemblance," he said with a smirk.

"Well, hey, it would solve our problem," Tony said with a shrug.

Bruce, knowing what he meant, looked back at Darcy with squinted eyes. "Yeah, I'm not sure it would." Then he gave a resigned huff. "Go ahead. I know you want to squeeze it."

Clint reached out a playful hand before being smacked away by both Bruce and Tony, Bruce amused and Tony appalled. "I don't think so, Bird Man. This fine ass is mine to squeeze."

Bruce laughed in spite of everything as Tony followed through with a very thorough squeeze that he was pretty certain made Darcy's eyes dilate a little. "Okay so this _is_ essentially a bridal shower, isn't it? Perverted antics and everything," Bruce said as Tony stood not quite beside him and not quite behind him.

"Please. This is nothing," Darcy scoffed. "You've obviously never heard of some of the games that get played at these things when there aren't any kids or fussy prudes."

"That's actually true," Pepper said with a laugh and Jennifer nodded.

"Have you ever been to one where the bride had to make out with a mop like it was her fiancé?" Jennifer asked curiously.

"Yes!" Darcy exclaimed. "Only it was a lingerie shower with a wet bar so the bride at that shower went a little bit overboard if you know what I'm sayin'," she added with a cluck of her tongue and Pepper and Jennifer laughed.

Bruce groaned. "Will you stop this if I kiss him?" He finally asked with a pointed look at Darcy. "Because honestly I'd just like to get back to figuring out which of the catering offers we've gotten has the best menu in everyone's collective opinion. Hell, I'd rather listen to all of those damn love ballads on your iPod," he muttered and shook his head.

"Is he going to…?" Jane suddenly asked, looking around in slight concern. "Are you okay, Dr. Banner?"

"He's fine," Tony said with an amused smile. "He's just uncomfortably turned on and trying to pretend like he's not," he teased.

Bruce huffed and rolled his eyes. "Oh come here, you. You're as bad as she is." Then he kissed Tony before he had a chance to blink, deeply and with a good deal of tongue as the engineer had previously suggested. When he had a chance to register what was happening, Tony raked a hand through Bruce's hair for extra effect until the physicist finally pulled away, breathless.

"Wow," Tony said earnestly. "Yeah, we should invite Darcy over more often."

Bruce ignored him and sat back down at the table. He pointed a finger at Darcy. "That's all the show you're getting."

Jane laughed and Darcy made a show of fanning herself. "I'll take it."

"Unless you move in," Clint countered. "Then you'd have the privilege of watching these two horny bastards make out all the time."

Bruce sputtered. "We do not—"

Clint then clapped his hands and put on a fake smile and overly enthusiastic tone of voice. "Or if you're really lucky you'll get to walk in on them going down on each other."

Everybody stopped what they were doing again and Bruce's eyes weren't the only ones that widened. "When the hell did that happen?" Tony looked at Clint in disbelief.

Clint opened his mouth to answer, but before he could Bruce fixed Darcy with a desperate look. "Ipod. Now."

She smirked. "I knew you'd crack."

* * *

"You know, I'm starting to wonder," Bruce said as he sat in bed reading through a science journal, Tony lounging beside him, manipulating a holographic image projected from his Starkpad.

"Hmm? Wonder what?" Tony asked a little absently when he processed Bruce's statement.

"Why people go through so much trouble just for a little piece of paper that says they're married," Bruce replied.

Tony looked over at him strangely. "That's a hell of thing to be wondering while I'm sitting here running simulations on your wedding ring."

"I know, but it just seems like a lot of fuss for one day when you can get married without ceremony, secure the legalities, and get on with your life together," he posited as he turned a page in the journal.

"You aren't wrong," Tony agreed after a moment and looked back at the hologram. "I mean, it's not romantic I guess, but it's not wrong."

"I'm probably just tired," Bruce said then with a shrug. "I think maybe the legal stuff the past few days has put it into perspective how big this really is compared to the superfluousness of the celebration itself. The responsibility we're getting into. What you're trusting me with. You have so much to share and I'm just…" He let the journal fall into his lap.

"Hey." Tony looked at him seriously. "You see this?" He pointed at the hologram. "I'm not making this ring because I want whatever you have to offer financially and unless you've been a gold digger this whole time, you're not marrying me for any of that stuff either, right?"

Bruce's lips quirked upward. "I might be a gold digger."

Tony gave a soft snort. "And you might be surprised how okay I'd still be with that. The point is," he said, becoming serious again, "I'm making this ring because of everything else you have to share with me that all the money in the world could never buy. I'm making it because of all of the things that you're trusting _me_ with. It's a reminder that I'm going to do my damnedest to never take that trust lightly." Tony quickly manipulated the hologram so that it shrunk from its enlarged view down to the actual size of a ring. He took it carefully in between his fingers and then looked back at Bruce. "Maybe this comes with a lot of responsibility, but it's taken me longer than most to be ready for that sort of thing and it's because of you, Bruce. So you're not _just_ unless there's a _my everything_ at the end of that statement." He gave a small hitch of his shoulder and closed half smile.

Bruce put the journal on the nightstand and scooted closer to take the ring into his own hand. "For the record," he said gently, "I wasn't only talking about the materialistic things you have to share."

"You weren't?" Tony asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No." He shook his head. "Sure all of the materialistic things that you have to share put it into perspective how big it is that of all the people in the world to pick me, it was the richest and in my humble opinion smartest. That's a little overwhelming for someone who used to have next to nothing." He paused and then leaned his head on Tony's shoulder. "But it's like I've said before. I know that the materialism is a piece of who you are, but it's not the full picture. So I think seeing that part of the puzzle in so much detail the past few days reminded me that you have so much more to share than just that and of all the people for you to have trusted with that terrible privilege, I'm the lucky one. I don't want to take that lightly either."

Tony closed his hand over the holographic ring in Bruce's palm and entwined their fingers. "I guess maybe that's why people go through so much headache to celebrate. It's not about making it legal. It's about saying, 'hey pay attention because I love this person so much I want to have a damn party and flaunt it,'" Tony said with a soft chuckle as he leaned his head against the top of Bruce's.

"Huh," Bruce said thoughtfully as his lips turned upward in a soft smile. "Sounds a lot like strutting." Tony smiled too.

**Author's Note:**

> Title inspiration - Plan On Forever by Mervyn Warren and Dana Glover (or Sue Ann Carwell)
> 
> The impromptu "bridal shower" was purely guilty pleasure crack based on my own misadventures with my friends' wedding showers. I swear, the mop game is a real thing. One time it was actually at my friend's mother's shower while "Let's Get It On" played in the background. And sadly yes one friend was a little tipsy and it went from PG rated to Bruce levels of discomfort all around. Speaking of Bruce, I kind of love putting him in awkward situations while semi-implying he's not always as bothered as he lets on - because goodness knows Tony doesn't need free for all encouragement haha. 
> 
> Also for anyone who doesn't like Tony and Bruce keeping their own surnames it's just kind of my personal thing, sorry. I'm one of _those people_ that doesn't think married couples need to change their last names unless there's a reason (like I know some people hate their last name and can't wait lol) or they just absolutely both want that. Especially not when the couple is older and have been professionally known as a name for years and years. (I'm sure others could make arguments against my thoughts on the subject though.)
> 
> Finally, for anyone keeping track of the timeline, this establishes the first two chapters of Hulk Hearts Puppies somewhere between Mid-September and Early November of 2014. And that also puts the rest of those chapters in late February which I didn't really think through when writing so let's just pretend like February 2015 _wasn't_ the third coldest on record for NY and therefore unlikely for there to be enthusiastic construction going on /sigh.


End file.
